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For the second time in a week, the Charlotte Checkers became the comeback kids, overcoming a 4-1 deficit at the end of the second intermission win by a score of 7-4 over the Iowa Wild.

Coach Mark Morris spoke candidly about the lack of effort from the home team during the first two periods of play.

“Our execution was less than stellar,” Morris stated, “and again, we didn’t start the game with the kind of focus we need to really be on top of our game.”

After the first period, when the home team came out flat and allowed three goals, Drew MacIntyre replaced rookie Rasmus Tirronen, who faced 15 shots in the first period, which was almost twice what Mac faced in the remaining 40 minutes of play.

The Checkers looked slightly better in the second period, with MacIntyre allowing one goal and the Checkers scoring one as well, but there was still a lot of work to do.

Midway through the game, Brendan Woods tried to get former Checkers captain Brett Sutter to drop the gloves, but Brett was having none of it. Instead, Wild left wing Kellan Lain stepped in and defeated Woods quickly, with both players going to the box for a cool down.

Charlotte Checkers Captain Derek Ryan commented honestly about the lack of effort at the beginning of the game, and what Coach said to inspire the comeback.

“Well he didn’t really come in and yell at us. He’s done that before and probably is tired of doing that…. I think his message is just we’ve got to start figuring stuff out on our own…. We’re super inconsistent right now… I’m not sure what it is.”

After a 16-game drought that was broken only four days ago on Tuesday, Zach Boychuk scored his second goal in three games, an unassisted shot that found the back of the net one minute into the third period, and the first of six unanswered goals that led to the Checkers phenomenal comeback.

“It’s great. The leadership that we have in this room and the determination to come back. We’ve done it quite a few times this year…” Boychuk continued, “Hopefully next game we can come out with a little better start.”

Coach Mark Morris talked to the team after the first two periods of play, and what was said turned the effort and energy around, leading to an epic comeback.

“I told the guys, I said listen,” Morris said, “we’ve come back from 4-1 against these guys in the past and I’m not counting us out.

With a 7-4 win over the Iowa Wild, Coach was right. Never count out the Charlotte Checkers.